


Early Morning Run

by amaronith



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: ACIJ, Also Homer., Ax - Freeform, He's around too, M/M, Marco's Dad shows up briefly too, Tobias - Freeform, and Erek are mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-25
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 08:39:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/898227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaronith/pseuds/amaronith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jake has a nightmare, he goes to one person he knows will help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Early Morning Run

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nightwalker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightwalker/gifts).



> I signed up for [Animorphs Christmas In July Secret Santa](http://justanotherghostwriter.tumblr.com/post/50928429452/animorphs-christmas-in-july-secret-santa-project) on tumblr, and it is finally time to post the fic I wrote for my secret santa! woo!
> 
> Prompt: onemuseleft. Yes: Jake and Marco as brotp/otp, anything with Rachel being awesome, stolen moments of light during the war. No: Jake/Cassie, main character death, anything non-con.  
> Content notes: There's some slight gore in the very beginning. No detail.
> 
> Happy Animorphs, Nightwalker! (OneMuseLeft on tumblr)

He was screaming in his own mind, covered in the blood of his friends as his hands/claws ripped them to shreds, feasting on their insides and unable to stop himself.

_This will make you compliant, now that you have nothing left to fight for._

**I will fight for humanity! I will fight you to my last breath!**

_That can be arranged._

\--

Jake was choking on the scream that followed him into waking, jerking awake as he fell out of bed. He made a mad dash for the bathroom and vomited into the toilet bowl, spitting bile when nothing else would come.

“....Jake, sweetie?”

Jake lifted his head, blinking at his mother’s bleary eyed expression. Why was she- oh. “...did I wake you?”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Never mind that - are you okay?”

“Nightmare. It was...math tests.”

His mother arched an eyebrow at him, as unimpressed as she could be with bed hair and bunny slippers that had googly eyes and carrot cigars. “Math tests. Really.”

“For eternity. Which really wouldn’t have been that bad in the grand scheme of things only I had to do them in blood and-yeah.”

“You sound like Marco when you haven’t slept well.” She shook her head with a soft chuckle. “...no more video games before bed, okay sweetie? That mortal combat game is too violent for before bed. Read a book of something before bed from now on.”

_Oh yeah, mom, it is totally Scorpion and Johnny Cage that give me nightmares about murdering my friends while an alien slug laughs evilly in my head._ “Maybe I just need to not take math.”

She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Think you can get back to sleep, or do I need to make tea?”

“I...I have no idea.” Jake leaned against his mother’s legs. “Go back to bed, Mom, okay? I'll make my own tea. No reason we both shouldn't get more sleep.”

She ran her fingers through his hair. “Drink the sleepy time tea – you'll feel better.”

“I might just go for a run,” Jake got to his feet, and flushed the toilet twice to be on the safe side before washing his hands.

His mother watched him as he swished mouthwash around. “A run. At this hour.”

He spat into the sink. “Yeah. I'll take Homer and go for a run.”

“....just be careful – bring my cellphone, I'm not going anywhere today.”

Jake smiled at her weakly. “I'm always careful, Ma.” He kissed her cheek. “I'll bring your phone, but I am most likely going to Marco's and waking him up to come running too.”

“Godspeed, sweetie.” His mother yawned and turned to go back to bed. “Just be careful. I love you.”

“....I love you too, Mom.”

–

Jake did end up going for a run instead of just flying out to Marco's, grabbing his mother's cell like she had asked him too, and leaving her a note reminding her of that just in case (he once managed to convince his mother to loan him seventy dollars while she was still half asleep and got the whole exchange on tape – he was grounded for a week afterward, but it had been worth it).

Jake took off into the early pre-dawn light, Homer leashed up and trotting happily at his side.

By the time Jake got to Marco's his muscles were aching pleasantly, and the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. Jake scooped up some pebbles and tossed them gently at Marco's window.

It only took seven pebbles for Marco to get out of bed and open the window. “What the actual fuck.”

“Marco Marco, let down your hair,” Jake called softly, grinning.

Marco vanished from the window before a set of keys flew out of it, nearly smacking Jake in the face before he snatched them out of the air.

Jake let himself in and set Homer up with a bowl of water and one of the pig’s ears he knew Marco kept in the closet for Homer. He spun Marco's keys on his finger as he headed up the stairs and opened the door to Marco's room, lying down next to the lump that was Marco under the covers. “Thanks for letting me in.”

“It is before six am on a Saturday – give me one good reason not to kick your ass to the couch.”

“Did you want that list itemized or would 'I needed my best friend' suffice?”

Marco lifted the blanket from his face to give Jake a half-hearted glare. “The least you could do is shower before getting my bed gross with your stink.”

“You like my stink - how else will you keep predators away?”

Marco snorted. “Still. Go shower. Then we'll talk. Or we won't. Whatever. Either way, you're going to shower even if I have to drag your ass in there and wash you myself.”

“It'll save time, to be sure.”

Marco's eyebrow crept up skeptically as he shifted to sit up. “...Are you hitting on me?”

He wouldn't lie – Jake had thought about it. About how easy it would be to be with Marco, about how nice it would be to be with someone who he could lean on without feeling judged. Someone who would _get it._

That, and the amount of wet dreams Marco was starring in was starting to give Jake a clue he might not have been as straight as he thought.

Jake chewed on the inside of his lips. “...what if I was?”

“...I am gonna need coffee, and we'll need to wait until Dad leaves for work in an hour, because the last thing either of us wants is to be making out and have my Dad walk in. Now put my keys back on my desk and _fucking take a shower sweat-beast._ ”

“I thought we were showering together?” Yes he was being difficult – Marco made it easy sometimes.

Marco growled. “...Lemme get the coffee pot set up.”

–

“You realize this is very very gay, right?” Marco grumbled, peeling out of the t-shirt that he had slept in. It was one of Jake's shirts – they had a tendency to just leave clothes at each other's houses, making spontaneous sleepovers easier.

“You wear my clothes to bed, dude,” Jake pointed out as Marco tossed the shirt at his face. “That is also all kinds of gay.”

“Whatever, I'm just making sure you're not freaking out about this apparent crisis of sexuality.”

Jake paused, halfway out of his shirt. “....not that much of a crisis, really? I mean, maybe if it was Ax, or Tobias, or Erek, but it's you.”

“So it's a less a crisis and more a paradigm shift, _whatever_... you realize that two of those three aren't even remotely human, right? And the other one is only human when he feels like it?”

“And?”

“So is xenophilia also a thing in your sexuality paradigm shift?”

“So what if it is? That's not the point. You're, you're _comfortable_. I don't have to worry about...a lot of things?” Jake finished taking off his shirt with a heavy sigh. “It's hard to put into words.”

“So I'm safe to have a sexuality paradigm shift with?”

Jake pushed his pants down as Marco turned the water on in the shower, waiting for it to heat. “You can say no, you know. I am not trying to force you into anything. If you're not into this, you can back out. No harm, no foul. Just cause I'm having a paradigm shift doesn't mean you are.”

“Who says my paradigm is shifting? Maybe I've just always been an equal opportunist. Or just gay for you, whichever.”

“Oh.” Jake blinked at his friend, turning this new information over in his head. “...so why not tell me about it?”

Marco stripped out of his boxers. “You were all googly eyes over Cassie – I figured you were straight and left it alone. But now you are paradigm shifting, and while normally I'd feel like an ass putting myself in your path like this, you are paradigm shifting in my direction _first_ , so.”

Jake grinned. “Paradigm shifting in your direction, huh?”

“Shut up and get in the shower, jerkface.”

“As you wish, snickerdoodle.”

Marco pointed at the shower with an annoyed huff and an eyeroll. “ _In._ ”

Jake stepped into the shower, sighing as the water hit his skin. “I had a nightmare.” He said at last as Marco stepped in behind him. “That's why I came over here – I had a nightmare.”

“I'm listening,” Marco said, quiet under the sound of the shower.

“I was infested. And. Uh. Eating you guys while in tiger morph.”

Marco worked shampoo into Jake's hair, fingers digging gently into his scalp. “Eyugh. That's... wow, dude.”

“Yeah, I know. I ended up waking up mom with-” Jake cut himself off with a hum as Marco pressed his thumbs into the back of Jake's neck. “Nnnnnn...”

“You didn't want sexytimes at all with this, did you?” Marco asked accusingly

“You're the one who said we should wait until your dad leaves.” Jake tipped his head back to give Marco better access to his hair. “Besides...this is nice too.”

“Yeah, well, you get to do mine, next.”

“Gladly.”

Marco's hands slowed at that before he started up again. “....do you wanna keep talking about your nightmare?”

“I'd rather not.”

“You wanna talk about...whatever the hell is going on with us now? I mean, I get it, we're dudes, we don't really talk about our feelings outside of significant eye contact followed by a snarky comment, but-”

“This is too important.”

“...exactly.” Marco removed his hands from Jake's hair. “Rinse.”

Jake tipped his head forward into the spray, keeping his eyes closed against the water and the streams of shampoo lather rolling down his face. When he was sure all the shampoo was out of his hair, he lifted his head and Marco started working conditioner through his hair. “I want... it sounds stupid, but I want to date you.”

“Like, actually dating? As in 'pick you up Friday night and go to dinner and a movie' date?"

"Something like that yeah. I mean... Yeah."

"You romantic," Marco teased, pushing Jake's head under the spray. "Will you take me away from this place, too?"

Jake shoved his hair out of his eyes as he turned to face him, "Marco, when the war is over and we've won-"

Marco shook his head, "We'll deal with that when it comes to that. Don't make promises you can't keep, even if you want to keep them."

Jake nodded and kissed him. He hadn't planned on kissing Marco, it just... felt right. There was no way to plan for the future, as much as he wanted to, and they both could die the next time they had a mission. Jake didn't want to say that; it didn't need to be said, in all honesty. Marco knew the score.

Marco's hands slid up into Jake's hair, kissing him back with a soft noise. “Huh.”

“Mm?” Jake nuzzled at Marco's jaw.

“This was not how I imagined it would be.”

Jake pulled back. “Better or worse?”

“Better. And. Um. More naked.”

Jake grinned wolfishly. “You never imagined us doing this naked?”

“I never imagined our _first kiss_ would be naked, no.” Marco flushed. “Or in the shower. Though it was raining in one dream...” Marco trailed off with a grin.

Jake couldn’t stop his own grin from getting wider. “You dreamt we kissed in the rain?”

Marco scowled at him. “Shut up, jerkface, and switch places with me so you can wash my hair.”

They slid past each other, careful not to lose their footing, and Jake resisted the urge to lean his chin on the top of Marco’s head.

Jake worked the shampoo through Marco’s hair in careful circles. “....so, wait, you’ve seriously had, like, romantic dreams about us getting together?”

“I wouldn’t call them _romantic_ really... okay, the one where you were a barbarian prince and I was your captive draped in silk and jewelry was pretty romance novel-y but I blame that on reading the book Rachel’s mom had in the bathroom.”

“Are you shitting me right now?”

“What that she has romance novels in her bathroom or that I read one? I mean, I didn’t read the whole thing obviously, but I flipped through it and it was this whole slave virgin sacrifice thing and you’d never think Rachel’s Mom would be into that sort of thing...”

“What makes you think they were my aunt’s?”

“Dude, Rachel wouldn’t keep that stuff in the bathroom. She’d hide that shit under the bed. She’d never admit to reading it.”

It was true - Rachel would never admit to liking romance novels. She took issue with simpering leading ladies who needed to be protected all the time. “Rachel sort of lives in a romance novel. I mean - star crossed lovers trapped fighting a war, unable to truly be together-”

“Oh my god, I dare you to write it.”

“What?” Jake snorted. “Dude, I have no writing skill whatsoever.”

“Get your mom to write it, she’d eat that shit up.”

Jake rolled his eyes and shoved Marco’s head under the spray. “Close your eyes. Moron.”

“You’re so abusive to me, Jake. I thought we were dating now? Domestic abuse is not sexy, dude.” Marco shook his head.

“You and I are too wise to woo peaceably.”

Marco turned around and gave Jake a flat look. “Are you fucking serious right now? Shakespeare? Seriously?”

“You wanted romance-”

“Oh my god, shut up. Shakespeare is fucking awful.”

Jake snickered and reached for the conditioner. “I’m surprised you even remember that play.”

“How could I not? I was an amazing Benedict. Play still sucked.”

Jake worked the conditioner through Marco’s hair. “....so wooing you with old guy poetry is a no?”

“I am not a poetry and flowers kind of man, no. Video games and basketball for me.”

“Ah yes, romantic dates, watching you completely obliterate the enemies in Final Fantasy by candlelight - such a turn on for me, babe.”

“You love it when I break the games and you know it.”

Jake pressed a kiss to Marco’s shoulder. “Yeah yeah... rinse.”

\--

They still managed to get out of the shower before Marco’s father woke up, and were dressed (Jake wearing one of Marco’s shirts that was a little tight across the shoulders but still comfortable, and a pair of shorts he had left at Marco’s the last time he slept over), and drinking coffee at the kitchen table when he had finally come down tying his tie, and left with a travel mug of coffee with a ‘gotta go, be home late, Jake don’t let him eat Cheetos for dinner.’

“....you know, for a man who’s known me my whole life, he had no idea that I think Cheetos for dinner is a fucking awesome idea.”

“Yeah, but because he asked you not to, you’re going to have a real meal with me for supper, aren’t you?”

Jake curled his hands around his mug. “...if you can put up with me and Homer all day, sure. I should probably get mom her cellphone back at some point.”

“She made you take her cell?”

“I did tell her I was running here, she made me promise to take it.”

“See? There it is again. You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.”

Jake scowled at Marco and drained his mug before leaving it in the sink. “Humbug.”

“It’s one of your more charming qualities, to be sure.” Marco grinned at him over the rim of his mug.

“Bite me.”

“Oh I will, no worries. I will bite my name across your shoulders.”

Jake blinked. Holy shit. “Holy shit.”

“What? So I’m possessive. Sue me.”

“No, it’s just. Damn.” Jake shifted, feeling the blush creeping up his neck. “That’s...really hot, actually.”

Marco grinned. “Damn right it is.” His grin dimmed a little. “...You want more coffee, dude? You looked wrecked.”

“Yeah, well. Nightmare. Didn’t sleep all that great.”

“So go lie down on the couch. I’ll finish my coffee and we’ll watch cartoons until we fall asleep again.”

“That’s... not really romantic. ‘Let us confess our love for each other and.... take a nap.’”

Marco snorted rudely. “Dumbass, we’ve known we loved each other forever, don’t even lie.”

Jake chuckled - because it was true, just not in the way they were in love now, if Jake wanted to put a word to whatever it was they were now - and sprawled on the couch, head against the arm of the couch and his feet pressing against the other arm, scooping up the remote from the coffee table before he even settled into the cushions. Channel surfing until he found something suitably bright and colorfully animated, Jake settled back and watch what looked like a pit fight between an electric yellow rat and some... he didn’t even know what to call the other thing.

Marco sprawled across Jake’s chest, tucking his head under Jake’s chin and wriggling one arm under Jake’s back. “Find something?”

“Eh. It’s a cartoon.” Jake wrapped an arm around Marco and nuzzled his hair. “Comfy there?”

“You make good furniture, so yes.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Thanks.”

“....what are we going to tell the others?”

“Hm?”

Marco pulled back to look Jake in the face. “I mean, do we just show up at the next meeting all like ‘Oh by the way we’re _totally_ dating now, teehee’ and holding hands?”

Jake frowned. “I’m not going to hide it from them, but I don’t think we’ll be coming out like that, no.”

“....we’ll figure it out later.” Marco settled back down on Jake’s chest.

“Yeah.” Jake slid a hand under Marco’s shirt to press against his spine. They just had to take this one step at a time.

They’d be fine.


End file.
